Running From Their Troubles

It’s plain to see they can outrun defenders. They do that every week. But only now are the New York Giants’ Tiki Barber and Seattle’s Shaun Alexander beginning to outrun their unflattering reputations.

Both are having spectacular seasons. In the not-too-distant past, though, Barber was the guy who couldn’t hold onto the ball, and Alexander was the one who complained he felt “stabbed in the back” by his team when he fell two yards short of winning the 2004 league rushing title.

Both labels stuck: the fumbler and the grumbler.

This season, however, both have emerged as legitimate NFL most-valuable-player candidates who have put their teams in solid positions to make a postseason run. In 12 games, Alexander has rushed for 1,388 yards and has scored 22 touchdowns, both league highs. Barber is third in rushing with 1,233 yards and is on pace for his best season yardage-wise. More important, he seems to have overcome his fumbling problem, having overhauled his ball-carrying technique over the last 1 1/2 years.

“I’m at a point in my career, where -- I hate to say it because it sounds a little cocky -- but I know I’m good,” said Barber, who has fumbled once in 252 carries. “I know that when critical situations come around that they can rely on me. My problems I’ve been able to correct, and it’s allowed me to be the player I always knew I could be.”

Time has helped heal the wounds Alexander inflicted when he groused last season, and he has done a good job of addressing the deficiencies of past seasons. Coach Mike Holmgren wanted him to make more of an effort in pass blocking; Alexander has done that. And it used to be that he was so fixated on breaking long runs, he didn’t seem to fight as hard for the short stuff. The Seahawks even started taking him off the field in short-yardage situations.

But this season, Alexander is a league-best 12 for 12 in third-and-one conversions, and he still has that ability to break loose for long gains. He leads the NFL with 40 runs of 10 yards or longer, well ahead of second-place Barber, who has 31.

What’s unclear is whether Alexander will be a Seahawk next season. The franchise spent so much on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and left tackle Walter Jones that it might not be willing to shell out the kind of cash Alexander expects. He’ll make $6.3 million as a franchise player this season, but the team has agreed not to put the franchise tag on him in 2006. So, it’s a long-term deal or nothing. In a sense, this season could be a 17-week audition for Alexander, whose biggest downside is he’ll be 29 heading into next season.

For the moment, he’s concentrating on the now -- and saying the right things.

Seattle is “a great city, and that town needs a Super Bowl, and hopefully, I’ll be able to bring them one,” he said.

Whereas Alexander has been criticized for not fighting for the tough yards, Barber got into problems in past years for struggling too much for every inch and failing to protect the ball. Around the time that Coach Tom Coughlin arrived, Barber began working on his technique. Specifically, he started hugging the ball closer to his body when he ran. The change paid immediate dividends.

“It was a mechanical thing,” he said. “I got good coaching on it. It showed that you’re never too old to learn new tricks. It’s made me the player I’ve become.”

And, having survived that, he has an intimate understanding of what Giant kicker Jay Feely is going through. Feely has missed four field-goal attempts in the last two games, including three would-be game-winners at Seattle. Barber is especially sympathetic. When he was a fumbler, he got advice from everywhere.

“The excuses that are made for you,” he said, “the psychotherapy that’s thrown at you, is more detrimental than anything. He’ll find a way to correct his deficiencies over the last couple of weeks, and he’ll be reliable for us. You never know, he could kick the game-winning field goal for us somewhere down the line.”

Spoken like a man who knows just how it feels to be labeled.

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It’s hard to overstate Bud Carson’s effect on the 1979 Los Angeles Rams, the team that lost to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. Carson, the longtime NFL defensive coordinator, died this week after a long battle with emphysema.

Jackie Slater, the Hall of Fame offensive tackle for the Rams, said the team’s defense improved dramatically shortly after Carson arrived, going from “meatloaf to filet mignon.” Not everyone on the team was as excited about the change. The cornerbacks, for instance, often felt overburdened by Carson’s scheme, which usually left them on an island in one-on-one coverage. As a result, they were some of the hardest-working players in the league.

By Slater’s thinking, the Rams could have been an elite teams for several years had Steeler assistants Carson, Lionel Taylor and Dan Radakovich headed to the West Coast a few years earlier. Carson was the star of that trio and came to the Rams in 1979 after shaping the legendary “Steel Curtain” defense.

“If they had come to us three years earlier, we might have had three Super Bowl appearances instead of one,” Slater said. “They definitely made a difference.”

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Judging by the way he walked away from the Miami Dolphins in the summer of 2004, loyalty isn’t Ricky Williams’ strong suit.

But the running back sure is devout to the University of Texas.

He revealed this week that he cast his Heisman Trophy ballot in favor of Longhorn quarterback Vince Young, rather than runaway favorite Reggie Bush of USC.

“I think Reggie Bush had a great year and is a great player,” said Williams, a Texas alum who gets a vote as a former Heisman winner. “But if you look at the teams, I think he had more on his team. Vince had more on his shoulders to be a Heisman candidate from the beginning and stay that way. To me, that’s very difficult to do.”

This time last year, the Williams vote went to Texas running back Cedric Benson, not the eventual winner, USC quarterback Matt Leinart. But Williams didn’t cast that ballot because he forgot to.

His mom voted instead.